


Warm

by TheWinterSldier



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe, Connor had commitment issues, K5, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Michaela is a good friend, Reincarnation, Slow Build, Soulmate AU, TW: Blood, but he's reincarnated so it's okay, commitment issues, more tags will be added along with chapters, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:10:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5479409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWinterSldier/pseuds/TheWinterSldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Oliver Hampton thought he would always have his best friend and his true love, because they were one in the same.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>Unfortunately, if your true love is also your best friend, that meant losing them was be twice as painful. </i>
</p><p>Oliver found his soulmate when he was eight years old. Luckily, it was his best friend, Jack. But Jack died when they were ten years old.</p><p>Twenty five years later, Oliver had come to terms with the fact that he would probably never find his soulmate again.</p><p>Until he saw the familiar dark eyes and dark hair in the form of a cocky law student, ten years younger than him, who's birthday just happened to be nine months after the day of Jack's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Soulmates are nothing new.

Soulmates had been around for as long as humans had been, but there were no definitive origins. Obviously there are theories, similar to how there are theories about human life’s existence in general. Some took an evolutionary approach, saying soulmates existed to ensure that everyone had the change to reproduce and that everyone has just one soulmates to ensure that there are no fighting over one ideal mate. Because the ideal mate for one person – their soulmate – is not another’s. It also helps that all soulmates are born within the same year as each other, so it’s a little easier to narrow it down.

Others take a more spiritual approach, theorising that once upon a time, the two souls were fused together, but the devil separated the soul into two different bodies. This would explain the Feeling soulmates get when they kiss for the first time, but then again, so could the hormone theory. Where two people’s hormones and genes match so perfectly with each other’s that their bodies can sense it, and that’s what creates the Feeling, as well as the comfort all soulmates took in physical contact of any kind with each other.

No one really knows that the Feeling is until they experience it, because it was so indescribable. Words can’t convey what the Feeling really feels like. That explains why so many people spend their whole lives trying to find their soulmate, as well as the obvious reasons. Happiness, companionship, belonging…

But sometimes, things go wrong. Some people never meet their soulmates, and they either end up with someone else who had also accepted that they’ll never meet their soulmate, or they die alone. Some people don’t mind this, though. There are always children to adopt, though if it’s a single person the process is a little harder. Some people just don’t want to meet their soulmate, for a number of reasons. They don’t want to be tied down to one person, at least not yet, or they want to remain independent.

Some stories were a lot sadder. Some people outlive their soulmates. In some cases, this isn’t so bad, because souls are always reincarnated. If someone’s soulmate dies young, there’s a chance they’ll meet again, even if there is an age gap the second time around. The living soulmate will remember meeting the other, but the reincarnated one won’t remember them. This puts a strain on some relationships, especially if they were together for a long time and developed a lot of wonderful memories together before one of them died. One still has all those memories, whilst the other goes back to a blank slate, decades younger than the other. If they’re both very old when one dies, that’s not so bad, because the other will die soon anyway, and they’ll meet again in the next life even if they don’t remember each other.

Between the ages of thirty and forty is the worst time to lose your soulmate, because you’re still young enough that you’ll have to live a long time without your true love, but you’re old enough that you’ll be in your fifties or sixties by the time your soulmate is even legally allowed to drink again.

But one of the hardest things about losing a soulmate young was that there was no guarantee that they would ever meet again, in this life or even the next, since they’d be so out of synch.

Oliver Hampton was eight years old when he was convinced he had found his soulmate. His best friend since he was three years old, Jack Falahee.

The day Oliver Hampton met Jack Falahee, he had thought the other boy was a ghost.

* * *

The Hamptons have moved next door to the Falahees when Oliver was just three years old. The house was a lot bigger than their little apartment had been, and it had a yard, something Oliver had never had before. He was excited, but he was also terrified.

Their old apartment had been small, and nothing ever worked in there, but neighbours stuck together in that building. That meant Oliver was left with their next door neighbour a lot while his parents were working. But his father had just gotten a big raise, big enough for them to buy their very first house in a nice suburban area. He was sad to leave their previous community, but Oliver’s dad had talked so highly of the amazing opportunities here that Oliver had ended up loving the idea.

While the big men moved their things into the house, Oliver stood on the curb beside his mother, holding her hand in one of his and his stuffed rabbit in the other. The weather was nice, the skies clear and the air warm. The yard had thick green grass, as did every other yard in the neighbourhood.

He looked around the area around them, trying to see some of the kids his age that his father told him he would be able to play with, but the streets were pretty quiet, just the odd few people walking past. No kids.

The windows of the house to the left of their’s were blocked by the drapes drawn inside. The house to the right also had all their drapes shut, except one window. The top right window had their drapes open slightly, just enough to show a small, pale face looking out of the window. Oliver recognised the face to be a boy’s, and saw that he had thick black hair, messily sticking up around his face and head. His eyes looked dark too, from what Oliver could see, and there seemed to be dark shadows under them too.

The boy seemed to be staring right at them, and Oliver thought it was a little scary at first, like one of the movies his parents watched after they sent him to bed, but sometimes he’s watch from the small crack in his bedroom door. Usually the movies had a small girl with dark hair as the main evil ghost, but Oliver figured a little boy could play the same creepy role too. He turned away from the boy in the window to tug on his mother’s hand and look up at her.

“Mommy, is that a ghost?” Oliver asked as he pointed up at the window, but when he looked up again, the boy was gone and the drapes were closed.

Oliver’s mother told him it was probably just lighting and shadows that made it seem like he had seen someone, but Oliver knew that wasn’t true. He definitely saw a boy in the window.

Once everything was moved in, his parents showed Oliver to his new room. The walls were blue, and there were stars, planets and rockets painted along them. His bedsheets was also space-themes. Oliver loved it, and as he played with his new rocket toy he almost forgot about the boy in the window.

He woke up the next morning to the sound of his mother laughing outside. Oliver pushed his covers off and opened the drapes to see his mother talking to another woman over their fence. The other woman was stood in the yard of the house with the ghost-boy in, and Oliver immediately came up with a plan to ask the lady if she knew she was living with a ghost. It was for her own good.

Oliver pulled his slippers on, then ran downstairs and out into the yard.

“There’s a ghost in your house!” Oliver shouted as soon as he was out of the door, then stopped in front of the fence.

Unfortunately, the fence was too high for the woman to see him without leaning over it, which she did as she let out a surprised laugh. Oliver’s mother picked him up and rested him on her hip as she shook her head.

“I told you, Oliver, it was probably just shadows from their tree. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“No! I saw a ghost in that window!” Oliver pointed up at the window, where the drapes were still shut. “He was little and pale and he had messy black hair and he was staring at us!” He explained in a rush.

Oliver’s mother looked like she was about to apologise to their new neighbour on his behalf, but the look of confusion quickly disappeared from her face as she let out another laugh.

“Oh, that’s not a ghost. That was just Jack… Hey, how old are you, Oliver?”

When the woman showed that he knew Oliver’s name – his mother must have told her – the confidence he felt earlier disappeared and he shrank back against his mother’s shoulder as he held up three fingers to her.

“Three? So it Jack, my son, maybe you two can be friends? Would you like a friend, Oliver?” She asked with a wide smile, and Oliver looked up at his mother for confirmation before nodding lightly.

The woman called out Jack’s name, and a small boy wearing a tiger onesie came running out of the house. Jack’s mom picked him up, as Oliver’s mom had done with him, and gestured to Oliver as she spoke to him.

“This is Oliver, he and his parents just moved in next door. He’s the same age as you and I’m sure he’d love to spend some time with someone his own age. What do you think?”

Oliver stared at the boy in the woman’s arms. It took him a second to recognise him in the light, but this was definitely the boy he had seen in the window the day before. He did indeed have dark eyes and shadows under then, and his hair seemed even messier now. Oliver briefly wondered if his mother ever bothered combing his hair, like Oliver’s did with his.

Jack looked between his mother and Oliver, then nodded as he stuck his thumb in his mouth and rested his head on his mother’s shoulder.

“Hello, Jack. I’m Valerie.” Oliver’s mother said as she waved at the little boy.

Jack didn’t take his thumb out of his mouth or move his other hand from his other’s back. Instead, his just opened and closed his fingers, and Oliver’s mom smiled at him.

Jack’s mom was called Sarah, and she was nice.

Oliver and Jack had a playdate the next day. The first words Jack actually said to Oliver were: _“Cool! Spaceships!”_

Jack stayed for dinner, and by the time he yawned and Oliver’s mother held his hand to walk him home, he and Oliver were best friends.

They spent the next seven years practically inseparable.

But something changed in their fifth year of friendship, when they were eight years old.

And it was all because of some bullies and a broken Gameboy.

* * *

It was a week after Jack’s birthday, and he and Oliver were back at school after the summer holidays. Jack had gotten a Gameboy from his dad, and he had spent every day practically glued to it since he had opened it at his birthday party, with Oliver by his side.

He had offered to let Oliver play on it several times, but Oliver wasn’t interested in actual games as much as he was interested in how those kind of consoles worked. Jack wouldn’t really appreciate Oliver taking it apart to see how the insides worked, especially since Oliver wasn’t sure he’d be able to put it back together and make it work again. So, each time, he politely declined and watched Jack’s fingers skilfully click the right combination of buttons to make the games do what he wanted.

The first day back at school, Oliver went to Jack’s house as always so that they could walk to school together. Their parents didn’t like them walking to school alone at their age, though they both insisted they were old enough, so they walked together to avoid having to walk with their moms. Jack’s mom had told him not to take his Gameboy to school, because he was there to learn and so that it wouldn’t get broken.

Jack agreed to leave it at home, but as he turned the corner with Oliver, he stopped and took his backpack off his back and opened it to show Oliver what he had in there. His Gameboy was tucked in between his school book and his lunch box, and he grinned at Oliver. He wanted to tell Jack to take it back, that his mom would be mad at him and the Gameboy would be safer at home, but Jack’s grin always worked like magic on Oliver, and instead of all that responsible stuff, Oliver just laughed.

Jack was showing some of their other friends how to play it when some older kids came over. They asked to see it, and Jack was a little reluctant since he didn’t know them, but they were a lot bigger than him and scarier, so he handed it over for them to play with.

But they didn’t want to play with it. Instead, one of them got a key out of their pocket and pried the plastic casing open, then did something to the inside that Jack, Oliver and their other friends couldn’t see. When they handed it back in two pieces, Jack cried.

Their other friends ran off to tell a teacher, and Oliver pulled Jack into a hug to try and make him feel better, but it didn’t stop Jack from crying.

When he realised that this wasn’t helping, Oliver broke the hug to take the pieces of the Gameboy from Jack’s hands and pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose as he took a closer look. Jack watched him with wide, wet eyes filled with hope.

“C-can you fix it?” Jack asked with a shaky voice.

Oliver didn’t think he could fix it. He didn’t know anything about the inside mechanism or what the big kids had done to it. And even if he did manage to fix that, they had broken the plastic casing to get into it, and he didn’t know how to make plastic stick together again.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say any of that, so instead, he nodded with determination.

“I’ll fix it, Jack. Don’t worry.” He carefully put the pieces in his backpack so he could take it home and try to fix it tonight, then pulled Jack into another hug.

Jack hugged back, tighter now that he wasn’t holding the pieces of plastic, and his crying eventually stopped. This time when Oliver pulled back, he smiled and wiped the tears from his best friend’s cheeks.

* * *

They agreed that they wouldn’t tell their parents what had happened. Jack’s mom would be mad that he had taken the Gameboy to school in the first place, when she had specifically told him not to. Oliver’s parents would insist that the Gameboy was a lost cause and tell Oliver not to waste his time on it when he should be doing his homework.

So Oliver finished his homework first, then his dinner, and allowed his dad to tuck him into bed while his mother read his a bedtime story. But he didn’t let himself get sleepy. He pretended, then waited until his parents left the room and went downstairs before pulling his backpack over and taking Jack’s broken Gameboy out as he turned his lamp on.

He spent a whole hour just looking at it. Looking for what seemed to be broken, what had been ripped apart, what should be connected where. Eventually, he had a pretty good mental picture of what the inside _should_ look like, and set to work making it look like that again.

He had snuck some electrical tape and superglue from his dad’s toolbox, and used a large amount of both until he was confident it looked right. Then, he used more superglue to seal the plastic casing back together and pressed the power button, crossing the fingers of his other hand as he did.

The delay only lasted about half a second, but it seemed agonisingly long. Oliver’s heart almost broke when he figured it wasn’t going to turn on, but then the screen lit up and Oliver had to cover his mouth with both hands to stop himself from squealing in pure joy.

He turned it off again and tucked it away safely in his backpack before looking at his clock.

_3:58am_

Oliver winced slightly when he saw the time, but he figured four hours was plenty of time to get plenty sleep.

It was not.

He groaned when his mother shook his awake and buried his face against the pillows in an attempt to block out the light streaming in through his parted drapes, courtesy of his mother.

Oliver contemplated faking sick, but then he remembered why he was so tired, and suddenly he was wide awake. He had to give Jack his Gameboy back.

He couldn’t wait to see the look of Jack’s face when he turned it on.

Oliver showered, got dressed, ate his breakfast and put his lunch in his bag in record time, but then he had to wait around for his mom to say he could go to Jack’s to walk to school. He was finished way too quickly, so now he had to wait. Jack would probably have only just gotten out of bed. He really wasn’t a morning person, and he was usually only half dressed for school when Sarah let Oliver in so he could wait for Jack in the living room.

Finally, his mother kissed his cheek and let him go, shouting a goodbye as Oliver darted out of the house and over the short distance to Jack’s front door.

Sarah let him in and, instead of waiting in the living room, Oliver went upstairs and knocked on Jack’s door.

As expected, Jack had his jeans on, but he was still wearing his pyjama tshirt when he opened to door for Oliver. He stepped aside and let him in, and Oliver noted the redness around his eyes. He had probably cried a lot the night before. That would have made Oliver sad in any other scenario, but not this one, because he knew that Jack would be happy again soon.

Oliver went straight over to Jack’s bed and sat his backpack on it so he could open it and brought out the Gameboy.

Jack’s brown eyes lit up as he took the game console from Oliver and pressed the power button to try it. He didn’t have to hide his joy like Oliver, so he squealed like Oliver had wanted to the night before, then pulled Oliver into a hug as he jumped up and down, making Oliver jump with him.

Oliver laughed as he did just that, then Jack did something he had never done before.

He pulled back from the hug only slightly, his hands on Oliver’s upper arms, and kissed his cheek.

Oliver suddenly felt warm, in a very pleasant way. He felt that warmth spread through his whole body, and he couldn’t stop smiling. The strain in his eyes from being so tired faded away, and his mind felt completely clear for the first time that morning. Clearer than it had ever been, really.

He didn’t know how else to describe it, and by the look of Jack’s face, it seemed he was just as surprised and confused at Oliver.

They were eight years old, they didn’t know what soulmates were back then, apart from the classic ‘Disney-style true loves’ they had seen on TV described as soulmates. That meant that they didn’t know all the details of soulmates, like how it was a kiss that confirmed whether or not they were soulmates, and the kiss didn’t always have to be on the lips, or the fact that it wasn’t always a boy and a girl who were soulmates. Sometimes it was two boys, or two girls. Sometimes the kiss was just on the cheek, or the head. The Feeling wasn’t as strong in those cases as it was when they kissed on the lips, but they still felt it, just on a more minute scale.

Oliver just thought he was really happy that he had made Jack happy, and Jack just thought he was really thankful for Oliver fixing his favourite toy.

* * *

Oliver had asked his mother that night what that feeling was, and when he told her that he got that feeling after Jack kissed his cheeks, she was ecstatic.

Oliver’s dad was happy too, and he was the one who sat Oliver down and explained what a soulmate really was, how it worked, and what it felt like to kiss your soulmate. Well, as best as he could. He and Oliver’s mother were soulmates, but his dad explained that it felt so incredible, it was nearly impossible to describe. But what he could say about the Feeling, matched what Oliver had felt almost exactly.

His mom went round to the Falahee house after they had finished explaining, and Oliver watched out of his window as Sarah’s face broke out in a wide smile and her and Oliver’s mom hugged. His dad explained that they had always had a feeling the two of them would be more than friends, but they had only dreamed that they would end up being each other’s soulmates.

Sarah had apparently asked Jack about that and explained about soulmates too, because the next day, he asked Oliver if he knew they were soulmates. Oliver nodded, a little worried Jack wouldn’t want him as his soulmate, but Jack just grinned and pulled him into a hug.

They didn’t really talk about it after that. They remained best friends, and everything was pretty much the same as it had been before they found out. Except whenever the topic of soulmates came up in class, Jack would proudly announce that Oliver was his soulmate. Some of the other kids laughed, and the teachers never really believed them. But that didn’t matter. They knew, and that’s all that counted.

Oliver’s parents were always talking about how lucky he and Jack were to have found their soulmates so early, they themselves having only found each other when they were in their late thirties, and Oliver always beamed and nodded. That meant he could spend his whole life with Jack, and he’d never be alone. He’d always have his best friend _and_ his true love, because they were one in the same. Having a true love and a best friend in the same person was awesome.

Unfortunately, if your true love is also your best friend, that also meant losing them would be twice as painful. If Oliver had just lost his soulmate but still had his best friend, at least he would have someone for comfort or vice versa.

Losing both simultaneously left him feeling more alone than he had ever felt before in his life.

And cold.

* * *

The day Oliver lost Jack was like any other Thursday.

They were ten years old now, and their parents no longer needed to ensure they were walking to school together. They were old enough to walk to school alone and for their parents to be sure they would be safe. But they still did walk to school every day, and they had taken to holding hands now.

Something about holding hands just made them both feel calmer and happier, no matter what the situation. It confused other people, though. Especially given that they didn’t look like the kind of people who would be friends.

Jack was a lot cooler than Oliver, and some of their friends had been whispering about him behind Jack’s back to Oliver, saying it was only a matter of time until Jack thought he was too cool to hang out with them and ditched them for the popular kids.

Oliver wasn’t worried about that. Not only were they soulmates as well as best friends, but Jack wasn’t as shallow as their other friends seemed to think. He hated the popular kids because they were mean to people for no reason, and Jack would never be like that or want to be around people like that.

The popular kids had approached Jack a few times, usually during the brief moments of the day when he was on his own, like when he was waiting for Oliver to finish getting his lunch from the cafeteria line. When Oliver asked about it, Jack always shrugged it off. He said they offered to accept Jack into their ‘Gang’ but Jack was never interested. He never told Oliver why, but he overheard Jack telling one of their other friends that it was because the popular kids told him Oliver wasn’t allowed to join with him. If Jack wanted to be their friend, he couldn’t be Oliver’s.

Oliver was surprise, yet delighted that Jack had picked him over the chance to hang out with the popular kids, and gave him his chocolate pudding the next day as a silent ‘thank you’. When Jack asked why he gave him it, Oliver just shrugged and said he didn’t want it.

That Thursday, Jack was ranting all the way home about how mean some of the other kids had been to a girl a few grades below them. They kept teasing her because she had braces and even made her cry, so Jack had stood up for her to the bullies while Oliver snuck behind Jack to get the little girl away from them.

Oliver nodded along, but since he had been there and knew the story Jack was telling, he figured he could zone out for the most part. He concentrated on Jack’s hand in his as they walked, but he even zoned out of the feeling of that. When he noticed that he wasn’t holding Jack’s hand anymore, he started paying attention again and noticed it was because Jack was making wild hand gestures, like he did sometimes when he was really getting into what he was talking about.

Oliver just smiled as he watched him. He was so happy just watching his best friend talk, even if it was about something Oliver already knew about.

He should have been watching where they were walking instead of watching Jack’s hands.

He should have told Jack to pay attention.

He should have noticed they were about to cross a road.

He should have been holding Jack’s hand so he could pull him back.

But Oliver hadn’t done any of those things.

He heard the sound of the car’s horn beep, and the sound of tired screeching. He heard a loud thump and a crack. It was silent for a second as Oliver stumbled back, away from where the loud noises had come from.

Then there was a scream. It wasn’t Oliver’s, but he wasn’t sure why not.

He should be screaming.

 _Jack_ should be screaming.

He was covered in blood, so much blood, he should be crying and screaming, and he should be reaching out for Oliver’s comfort, like he had when he accidentally cut his finger in art class and had to go to the nurse to have it bandaged up.

But he wasn’t.

He wasn’t moving.

His eyes were closed, and his chest wasn’t moving like it should be.

Oliver vaguely registered the sound of a woman shouting down the phone, telling someone to come quick. He vaguely registered a man grabbing his hand and pulling him back to the curb, then he registered someone trying to turn him to look away from his friend, but Oliver couldn’t.

Everything had seemed to be going too slow until now.

Now, it sped up. He ripped his arm from the man’s grip and ran out onto the road, dropping to his knees beside Jack. Oliver was sobbing, and he shook Jack’s shoulder as he begged him to wake up.

He took Jack’s blood-soaked hand in his, trying to ignore the bone sticking out of Jack’s wrist, but he didn’t feel the same warmth or comfort that he had felt ever since Jack had kissed his cheek two years prior and activated their soulmate bond.

Jack’s hand felt too cold.

Oliver felt too cold.

Oliver screamed as a man wrapped his arms around his middle and lifted him off the road and away from Jack, back to the sidewalk. He continued to scream as he fought to get back to his soulmate, but soon his view of Jack was blocked by an ambulance. Oliver hadn’t heard the sirens approach, but he heard them now. They were too loud and too close, and the noise combined with the flashing lights made his head and eyes hurt.

Someone was talking to him then, asking him questions, and the arms around him slipped away. His first thought was to run around the ambulance to where he had last seen Jack, but he knew if he tried, the man stood in front of him dressed in dark blue would stop him.

He told them his name, and Jack’s name. His address and Jack’s address, then recited his phone number. The man led him over to a phone booth and rang the number Oliver had told him, then explained that there had been an accident. The man said Oliver was physically okay, but he needed a parent. Then the man asked Oliver’s mother to bring Jack’s parents to the location they were at.

_Physically okay…._

Oliver didn’t feel physically okay. He felt sick, and cold. He was shaking, and there were tears streaming down his face as sobs wracked his body.

“Is Jack okay?” He asked the man quietly, but he got no reply.

The ambulance drove off, but one of the cops stayed behind with Oliver until his parents get there. He left Oliver with his mom and dad – who fretted over him, checking him for any injuries – and took Jack’s parents aside to talk to them more privately. When Oliver’s parents found no injuries, they asked what happened and what was all over his hands.

Oliver frowned in confusion and looked down at his hands. It was blood.

Jack’s blood.

Too much of it for Oliver to handle looking at for more than a second.

He looked up at his parents with watery eyes, his bottom lip trembling as he managed he choke out one word; “ _Jack.”_

At the same time as he said that, Jack’s mother screamed a few feet away and collapsed to the floor as she sobbed, her husband dropping down with her to cradle her against his chest. He was shaking too, but he was clearly trying to stay strong for his wife.

Oliver’s mother gasped and covered her mouth as she saw Sarah collapse, then Oliver saw her eyes drift to a bit further behind the Falahees, where none of them had thought to look.

The police tape.

It was around the car that had hit Jack, and around the large puddle of blood where Jack had been laying on the road before the ambulance took him away.

Oliver’s mom cried then, realising what had happened, and his father pulled her into a hug, then reached over to tug Oliver into the hug too. Oliver’s head was against his father’s chest, and his mother’s body was against his back. Both his parents were warm.

But he still felt cold.


	2. Chapter 2

Nine months.

No matter what Oliver did for nine months, he felt cold. He didn’t miss his parents’ worried glances whenever he shivered, and they eventually got Oliver in to see a Soulmate Specialist. They explained Jack’s death to him before they went, so that Oliver wouldn’t have to be in the room and hear them talk about what had happened. How they had been best friends beforehand, how Jack had kissed his cheek and Oliver had felt that warmth, how every time Oliver touched Jack after that he felt the same warmth.

The doctor was sympathetic. His soulmate had died, but he had never met her before then. She was three years younger than him, so she must have died when he was three years old. Luckily, he was still able to meet her and fall in love. They had two children together now. He explained that if you meet your soulmate and they die, you will go through nine months of cold spells until your soulmate is reborn. The nine months are the time between when your soulmate dies (and is then conceived again) and when they are born again.

Once the cold spells disappeared, Oliver spent months checking the newspapers for birth announcements, but there was no way he could meet all those babies and kiss their cheek to see which one was his Jack reincarnated. Even if he did find him again, he couldn’t be friends with a baby. The baby wouldn’t remember all their jokes, they wouldn’t get all of Oliver’s Star Wars reference. Oliver didn’t even know how to take care of a baby, he couldn’t be friends with one. Then his parents reluctantly told him his soulmate wouldn’t necessarily be reborn in Philadelphia. He could be reborn in Australia or China for all he knows.

Oliver was diagnosed with depression a year later.

* * *

By the age of thirty five, Oliver had given up hope of ever finding his soulmate again. But that was okay, he had an amazing family, a good job, and an overall good life. He didn’t need a soulmate to feel whole.

Most of his friends disagreed. Some had already found their soulmates, and couldn’t comprehend anyone being happy without that feeling, and some were still searching hard. So they insisted on taking him out every Thursday to try and get him to find his soulmate. Oliver didn’t think he would find his soulmate in some cheap bar, but no matter how many times he told them that, they continued to refuse to take no for an answer.

So, he went to boring bars, he had a few drinks, got ignored by all the men there, and went home. He always felt a little down after evenings out like that. Jack was gone, and there was no way he could replace him with someone else, even if it was Jack reincarnated. Oliver wasn’t sure if he would be able to love anyone else as much as he loved his best friend. He hadn’t really had friends as close as Jack since he had died. Oliver understood that no one else could be that close to him because they weren’t his soulmate, but he wished he could have a friend even a fraction as amazing as Jack had been.

This Thursday hadn’t started any different to the others. He had finished work at six, sighed at the request to go out, but eventually given in to his friends, and gone to a bar with them. The only difference had been that they had had a briefing from the legal department about not being able to tell anyone about the secretary who had tried to kill her boss with an aspirin. Something about it not being definitive yet and therefore anything they say can be seen as trying to effect the course of justice by spreading malicious falsehoods. Oliver hadn’t really paid attention. Who would ask _him_ anyway, he just worked in IT.

“What about that guy?”

Oliver reluctantly turned to see who Kirk was talking about, but he didn’t really see the point. He couldn’t guess who he would have a connection with based on looks alone. But he followed Kirk’s gaze and shrugged. The guy was blond, with a leather jacket and stone-washed, light blue skinny jeans. He seemed a little too cocky, and he was clearly flirting with a girl. Oliver supposed his soulmate could be bisexual or pansexual, but he just wasn’t sure about this guy. Besides, if he was straight and Oliver went to talk to him, then he rejected him, it would be humiliating.

He just shook his head and sipped his drink. Kirk immediately starting to point out other people Oliver could talk to, and he sighed. There was one man he pointed out, who Kirk announced looked nerdy like Oliver, and he said they would hit it off. Just to shut him up, Oliver planned to go over, say hi to the man and offer to buy him a drink. If he said no, then maybe Oliver could use the rejection as an excuse to go home. This guy didn’t look like the sort to flat-out laugh in Oliver’s face, so it wouldn’t be so bad.

As he made his way over to the man, Oliver wasn’t really paying attention to anything else in the room. Which was a mistake, because it meant he collided into another man, spilling his own drink. Luckily, he didn’t get any on his or the other man’s clothes, and quickly stuttered out an apology.

Oliver looked up at the man he had walked into in order to make the apology more sincere by looking him in the eyes. He didn’t, however, take into account the man’s eyes being so striking. They were dark brown, accented by his white skin, dark eyebrows and dark eyelashes. His hair was almost black, and he had a little stubble that made him look older than he probably was.

“Sorry…” Oliver repeated himself, and the other man just smiled. It was a little lopsided, and Oliver forgot how to think for a minute. He also forgot about the man he had intended to go speak to, as well as his co-workers a few feet away.

“No, it’s okay. My bad…” The brunet practically insisted, then smiled at Oliver before speaking again. “I’m Connor.”

“Oliver…” He replied. Oliver wasn’t sure if he was staring at Connor, or just maintaining normal eye contact. Either way, Connor didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ll buy you another drink. I insist.”

Oliver couldn’t bring himself to argue. If he argued, the man would leave. If Connor bought him another drink, maybe he would stay with Oliver and have a drink himself.

“Makers Manhattan… Two cherries…”

“I’ll be right back.”

And like that, the man was gone again. There was an empty table close-by, so instead of going back to his co-workers, Oliver sidestepped towards the table and waited for the other man to come back. As chance would have it, he ended up facing the bar where Connor was leaning against the fake wood to talk to the bartender. The way he was stood, slightly leant forward with one leg a little bent, just happened to cause Oliver’s eyes wandered down to his ass. As soon as he realised what he was doing, Oliver felt his face heat up while he looked away.

Oliver was not the kind of person to ogle guys’ asses. He was the kind of guy who avoided flirting and bars as much as he could without annoying his co-workers by turning them down too many times.

Luckily, Connor was facing the bar the whole time, so he wouldn’t have seen Oliver staring at him. Though he did have to admit, even if it was just to himself, Connor had a very nice ass.

Oliver kept his eyes down, staring at the table top in front of him to avoid staring at Connor anymore. But he still couldn’t stop himself from glancing up every now and then, so he moved around the table so his back was to Connor, until he heard the man’s voice as he approached him again.

“Makers Manhattan. Two cherries.”

Oliver looked up again and smiled as he took the drink, thanking Connor quietly. He couldn’t help but smile again when he saw Connor holding the same drink. Connor even had the same amount of cherries. Whether that was because Connor actually drank that or because he was trying to get closer to Oliver in that way, Oliver wasn’t sure. But he didn’t mind either way.

Their fingers brushed when Connor passed over the drink, and Oliver thought he felt… Something. But he didn’t know what, and it was only for a second, so he ignored it.

“So, you know… Your co-workers seem to want a show.” Connor said as he walked around the table to stand opposite Oliver.

Oliver had completely forgotten about the others he had come here with, and he looked over his shoulder to see one of them grinning, the other smiling, and the final one getting distracted by flirting with a pretty blonde girl.

“So just say the word and we can start making out.” Connor continued, and Oliver quickly turned back to face him.

He was joking, right? He must be joking. Not only had they just met, but Connor was… Wow. And Oliver just… wasn’t. There were plenty of other attractive people in this bar alone that Connor could make out with instead… He was probably just saying that as a joke.

Oliver let out a huff of a laugh before speaking. “Ignore them, I just… I don’t… I don’t talk to guys at bars that often…”

He looked down at his drink, but Oliver didn’t miss the little smile on Connor’s face. Oliver couldn’t tell by just that fleeting glance if Connor was laughing at him, or if there was something else in that smile. It looked almost predatory, but Oliver couldn’t be sure, and he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

“So let me guess.” Whatever had made Connor silent for a minute wore off, and he spoke again. “You guys all work in the advertising agency upstairs.”

“It’s that obvious.” It was meant to be a question, but it came out more like a statement than anything else. Because it was obvious. They had come straight from work, so they were still wearing suits. In fact, Connor was the only one in here apart from Oliver’s co-workers who was also wearing a suit. Oliver wondered what Connor did, and if he had come straight from work or if that’s just how he usually dressed.

“I work in the bank across the street, and the only hot guys that ever come in here are from your agency.” Connor explained.

Oliver would have been happy that he had found out what Connor does for a living without having to ask, if he weren’t so flustered by the fact that Connor had just referred to him as a hot guy.

He let out a surprised laugh, expecting Connor to join in and say he was just kidding, but he didn’t, so Oliver felt the need to fill the silence and spoke again. But he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just ended up repeating what Connor had said.

“Hot?” Or maybe he was talking about one of Oliver’s co-workers. Zach was kind of hot. Connor didn’t glance at the others a few feet away though, and kept his eyes trained on Oliver as he took a sip of his drink. “Wow, er… Well, I don’t work in the cool part of the company if that’s what you’re thinking, I—I’m in IT.”

Oliver had never been embarrassed to admit he works in IT before. It didn’t pay great, and the people he had to deal with were idiots, but he enjoyed the basics of working in IT. Every day, he knew what to expect, and anything he didn’t expect is pretty easy to deal with. Write a few lines of code, go through some other lines to see where the problem is, go upstairs to troubleshoot someone’s computer for them if it crashes… It was all just easy for him. Even if it was boring as hell.

But now, talking to Connor, he wished he did something cooler so Connor would stay interested in him, so he could talk at lengths about his job and not worry about boring the other man.

“IT? No, I—I think IT’s very cool.” Connor announced as he put his glass down again.

Oliver thought Connor can’t be serious… But he looked serious, and Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the idea that someone as cool as Connor thought that IT was also cool. He didn’t know what to say to that, especially when he got distracted by Connor licking his lips. But he didn’t have to, because Connor filled the silence for him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Oliver nodded enthusiastically.

“Did you know that secretary that tried to kill her boss with an aspirin?”

Oh, that’s why he was talking to Oliver. He just wanted to know about the alleged psycho who worked in the same company as him. Oliver really hoped that wasn’t the only reason, but he suspected it was. Why else would Connor be speaking to him?

“The legal department warned us not to… Talk about that.” Before he had even finished his sentence, Oliver could already see the disappointment in Connor’s face, and he wanted to take it back. He really did.

“Oh… Right. Sorry I asked.” Connor seemed to shrug it off, but Oliver could feel the shift in the atmosphere between them.

Connor was losing interest in him.

This was proven when Connor reached into his breast pocket and took out his phone. Oliver couldn’t see what he was doing, but that seemed like a pretty universal sign for ‘ _I don’t want to talk to you anymore’_. He had seen other people use it, hell, Oliver himself had used it more than once.

Oliver heard a man walking very close behind him and turned to see if it was someone he knew. It wasn’t, but this guy was attractive. He was looking in their direction, but not at Oliver. Of course he was looking at Connor, and Oliver couldn’t miss the way the man’s eyes scanned Connor’s body. When Oliver turned back to face to table, he saw that Connor was looking at him too, doing the same thing with that flirty smirk on his face that had been directed at Oliver not that long ago.

Oliver was definitely losing Connor’s attention, and he was desperate to fix that. “Uh okay. But… No one can know I told you this.”

Connor’s phone was gone from sight, and his focus appeared to be completely on Oliver again. He couldn’t believe he had actually agreed to this. He could get arrested for this. But for some reason, Oliver just didn’t care. He had been so cautious his whole life, Oliver deserved to break some rules, even if it was with something as basic as sharing some pretty serious gossip.

“I’m listening.” Connor prompted, and Oliver realised he had just been staring at him.

“Uhm… Well, there’s this guy, who sent an email to the CEO a few weeks ago. If anything sounds violent, it flags up on the IT main computer, and no one else was in besides a friend of mine so we went to see what it was. I should have really reported it, but my co-worker said that the CEO gets these kind of emails all the time so not to bother…”

“Who was the email from?” Connor asked as he picked up his glass again.

Oliver could see that he was trying not to look as interested as he was, and he realised Connor had definitely lied. He had some kind of invested interest in this line of conversation, he wasn’t just making idle chit chat or wanting to know the latest gossip.

“You don’t work in the bank across the street… Do you.” That was a statement, though again, it had meant to be a question.

Connor looked confused at first and frowned a little. He looked as though he was going to maintain this façade for longer, but then Connor changed his mind and sighed as he shook his head. “Okay, no. Is it that obvious?”

He looked as though he was trying to force an innocent expression, like a child who had been caught with their hand in a cookie jar, but Oliver could tell it was just an act. He laughed anyway though.

“Why are you really interested in this stuff?”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Connor leant over the table a little so he was closer to Oliver, and Oliver could smell the cherry alcohol on his breath as he mirrored Connor’s movement and leant forward too. It was oddly pleasant, and Oliver couldn’t find it in himself to deny Connor’s request. He also couldn’t find it in himself to _speak_ , so he just nodded instead. “I’m a law student. I work for Annalise Keating, and we’re defending the secretary. I need to find a different suspect, and I would owe you _big_ if you could tell me who that email was from.”

He was definitely telling the truth this time, and Oliver pondered whether or not to tell Connor more. On the one hand, he could help an innocent woman avoid prison. On the other hand, he could help this Annalise Keating frame an innocent – albeit angry – man for a murder attempt whilst helping the person who actually did it get off.

There was clearly a logical path here. If the secretary was really innocent, they’d find another way to prove it… But the logical path meant Connor would lose interest in him again and go searching for said other way.

Oliver told him everything he knew. The business rivals name, everything he could remember from the email – which, admittedly wasn’t much – and why he had threatened Arthur Koffman.

The little information Oliver had remembered from the email wasn’t enough, and Connor also needed evidence of the email. Without the physical evidence of its existence it would be hearsay.

“I can hack into the company’s system and get it for you…?” Oliver offered, and it was impossible to miss the way Connor’s dark eyes seemed to light up at that, and suddenly Oliver was reminded of someone else. He couldn’t quite put his finger on who, but he knew he had positive feelings towards this person, because he was even more drawn to Connor than he already had been.

“Really? You can do that? You _would_ do that?” Connor asked, clearly surprised, and Oliver nodded quickly.

“It’s not that complicated, really…”

Connor didn’t ask what it would entail, and Oliver didn’t elaborate. He knew people usually didn’t care about all the techy stuff he loved so much, and he really didn’t want to bore Connor. The law student also didn’t bother pointing out that it was illegal, which Oliver was thankful for. He knew this was illegal, of course. But the more he thought about it, all he would be risking, and for a man he had only just met… He just didn’t _care_ anymore. In fact, it was exciting.

“Well… I don’t suppose you can do it here, so…”

Oliver immediately understood what Connor was hinting at, and he nodded quickly as he finished the rest of his drink and watched Connor do the same. He really was trying not to stare, but he couldn’t help but watch how Connor’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. Then, his eyes raised to Connor’s eyes again, but only maintained eye contact for a few seconds before he looked away.

“My laptop is at home. It has the programmes on it I need to get the email… So, my place?”

Before he had even finished the request, Connor was already nodding and moving around the table with a gesture to the door. Oliver led the way, and shot his friend a timid smile as they spotted him leaving with Connor following close behind him. He saw his friends glace at Connor, then they shot Oliver a thumbs up, and Oliver quickly looked away and focussed on getting out of the bar.

Once on the sidewalk, Oliver took a deep breath of cold air in an attempt to clear his head. He was really doing this. He had hacked before, but never for any real gain. And certainly not for anything like this. And he didn’t even know if he could trust Connor. Maybe he would sell him out and get him arrested once he had gotten what he wanted…

Connor joined him outside almost immediately, and shoved his hands in his pants pockets as he looked around. “So, is your place close or do we need to take a cab?”

Oliver usually walked, but it was quite a long walk. And he didn’t think he would be able to keep the conversation going comfortably between them during that time without backing out. “Cab.”

He started walking to the end of the street where the cabs were all waiting to take drunk people home. Oliver wasn’t drunk, and Connor looked pretty stable too. That was good. He didn’t think he’d be able to hack without leaving a trail leading to him if he was drunk.

Connor leant forward to open the cab door before Oliver could reach out for it, and he smiled at him as Oliver blushed and ducked into the car with a muttered ‘ _thank you’._ He told the driver his address as Connor got in after him and closed the door. They were sat on either sides of the back seat, but Connor had his legs open wide, meaning his knee was touching Oliver’s. It was only a light touch, but Oliver felt the same strange feeling he had felt when Connor had handed over his drink and their fingers had brushed.

But this time, the touch was lingering and Oliver was able to register it properly without the touch disappearing as quickly as it was there. It felt familiar, but Oliver didn’t know why. He knew he had never met Connor before, but there was still some kind of recognition there. He wondered if Connor felt it too, but when he glanced over, Connor was just staring out of the window, seemingly oblivious. It was probably just Oliver. Connor wasn’t the first guy to ever pay attention to Oliver, but he was the first in a while. Oliver was probably just unused to the feeling now.

The warmth he felt there was probably just Connor’s body heat radiating onto Oliver’s leg.

Before Oliver could reach for his wallet to pay the cab driver, Connor had already gotten a few bills from his own wallet and handed them over, telling the guy to keep the change. Oliver got out of the car and led Connor into the building and up the stairs to his third floor apartment. He apologised and explained that the elevator had been out of order for a while now, but Connor assured him he didn’t mind the extra exercise, making some joke about how he needed to do more cardio anyway. Oliver really wanted to say something light and witty back but all he could think about was how there was no way in hell Connor needed more cardio. He remembered how Connor’s ass and legs had looked as he leant over the bar, wrapped in his black pants, and suddenly really wanted to see them without said pants. He _definitely_ kept that thought to himself though.

Connor was just here to get the email. Nothing more.

Once inside, Oliver gestured to the couch and told Connor to make himself comfortable and offered him a drink. Connor asked for orange juice, which Oliver though was a little unusual, but he went to get him a glass anyway.

Then the hacking began. He sat beside Connor on the couch and opened up his laptop, then fired up the programme and got to work. It didn’t take long, but after a few minutes Oliver realised they were sat in silence, and he uttered another apology.

“Sorry… I kind of get in the zone and forget other people are here when I do IT stuff…” He explained, and Connor chuckled quietly and shrugged.

“No problem. I like watching people in the zone.”

Oliver didn’t know how to answer that, so he just smiled a little and got back to work. He worked quickly, not wanting to bore Connor, but as he got close to getting the email he realised that as soon as he finished Connor would leave. He knew it wouldn’t make much difference in the long run, but even so, he slowed down.

“You have really nice hands…” Connor commented, and Oliver’s fingers froze over the keyboard.

Neither of them had spoken for a while, sat in an oddly comfortable silence, so he hadn’t expected _any_ comment, let alone a complimentary one.

“Thanks…” He figured that was the best response he could give, and he glanced over to see Connor smirking again.

Oliver was already getting him the email, Connor didn’t need to flirt with him anymore. But it seemed like he was. He had one leg crossed over the other and one arm around the back of the couch behind Oliver. Connor looked very relaxed, and Oliver envied his confidence. He was never that confident in a new place, especially not when he was in someone’s home for the first time. _Especially_ not when he had only met the person about an hour ago.

Eventually, he couldn’t really delay any longer. Well, judging by the way Connor kept looking at the screen with a confused expression, it looked like Connor didn’t know much about IT or at least not about what Oliver was doing. So really he could just mess around with a few lines of code to make it look like he’s doing something and Connor would be none the wiser. But he decided that he didn’t want to force Connor to stay longer. If he was going to stay longer, Oliver wanted it to be because Connor wanted to.

He sat back to indicate that he was done and gestured to the screen where the email was open for Connor to read. Connor leant forward to read, meaning he was closer to Oliver. Oliver could smell his cologne, but he tried not to be too obvious about it. He smelled really good.

A smile slowly spread out over Connor’s face, and Oliver couldn’t help but smile too.

“This is perfect… Thanks, Oliver.” He looked at Oliver when he thanked him, and for some reason that made the thanks seem more sincere.

“I’ll print it out for you…” Oliver offered and moved forward again to press the print button.

He got up to go to his printer in the corner of the room as it made the sounds that indicated that it was working on production the email. Oliver heard Connor put his now-empty glass on the coffee table but he didn’t think anything of it as he picked up the warm piece of paper. He turned to take it back to where he _thought_ Connor was still sat on the couch and _almost_ bumped into him for the second time tonight when he discovered he had been stood directly behind him.

“Oh, uhm… Here’s the email.” Oliver recovered from the shock relatively quickly and held the paper out to Connor.

The other man took it, but he didn’t even glance down at it as he smiled, his eyes trained on Oliver.

“Thanks.” Connor said again, then put to sheet of paper down on the table beside the printer, meaning he was reaching around Oliver. Meaning he was _extremely_ close to Oliver.

Despite the fact that Connor was at least a few inches shorter than him, Oliver felt a little dwarfed in his presence. He was so confident and bold, it just made Oliver seem smaller in comparison.

“You’re welcome…” He answered quietly, mostly as a way of filling the heavy silence. Connor’s hand was still on the sheet, meaning he was still very close and his arm was still sort of around Oliver’s middle.

“What can I do to repay you?” Connor asked quietly, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper. It sounded a little deeper too.

Oliver may not have had sex in a while, and he may be painfully awkward, but he knew exactly what Connor meant by that. His suspicions were somewhat confirmed when he noticed Connor’s dark eyes drop down to Oliver’s lips. Oliver’s eyes did the same, and Connor licked his lips. Oliver’s mouth went completely dry at the quick glimpse of his pink tongue. He really wanted to kiss him. But he didn’t want Connor to think that Oliver expects him to let him because he got the email for him.

“Y-you don’t have to repay me…” He argued weakly, and his heart sped up slightly at the sound of Connor’s light laughter.

“I know I don’t have to… But I want to…” Connor moved a little closer as he did, and his body was now pressed against Oliver’s.

He felt the warmth again, it was more intense this time. It was probably just because of how turned on he was, it was just the anticipation.

Before he could say anything else, Connor leant forward to kiss him. His lips were warm and soft, and again it seemed like the warmth transferred to Oliver and spread throughout his entire body. It felt familiar, despite the fact that this was the first time they had ever kissed. The kiss started almost hesitant, but when Oliver kissed him back Connor put a little more want into it. He rested his hands on Oliver’s waist as Oliver’s hand came up to cup Connor’s face.

Then it was like the floodgates had been opened. The kiss because rougher, as if they were desperate to devour each other, and Connor’s hands moved to start undoing the buttons of Oliver’s shirt. He seemed to change his mind after only a few buttons had been opened, because suddenly they weren’t kissing anymore and Oliver opened his eyes with a slight frown only to see that Connor wasn’t in front of him anymore. He felt hands on his belt and looked down to see Connor on his knees in front of him.

Oliver hardly had time to register exactly what he was seeing before his member was out of his boxers and Connor was licking at the head of it. He moaned quietly at the feeling of Connor’s tongue against the slit where precome was already beading. Connor licked it up as quickly as Oliver was producing it, then took the head into his mouth to start sucking him. Within just a few seconds, Connor had more than half of his hard length in his mouth, his cheeks hollowed around Oliver, bobbing his head as he sucked.

He knew some people hated it, he knew it could be seen as very rude, but Oliver couldn’t stop himself from tangling his fingers into Connor’s hair. It was just for something to hold onto though, and Oliver had no intention of trying to make Connor take more or change his pace. It was already perfect. Connor didn’t seem to mind, and he even moaned quietly around him when Oliver gripped a little tighter, causing vibrations to travel along Oliver’s shaft and for Oliver to moan too.

“I though all you wanted from me were those emails…” He managed to breathe out, and suddenly Connor stood up again and pulled Oliver in for another kiss.

Within a few seconds, both of their shirts were ripped off, pants and underwear kicked off, and Oliver was led to his own bedroom, then pushed down on the bed. Connor was on top of him, his knees either side of Oliver’s hips, and Oliver stared up at him, transfixed. His hair was a mess now, his lips cherry red from use, and his eyes… God, his eyes were almost black now and Oliver could feel himself getting lost in them.

“I did, but I want this too.” Connor answered, and Oliver kind of admired his honesty. He admitted that he _had_ wanted the email, he didn’t try to convince Oliver that this had been what he wanted all along. “Turn over.”

Oliver stopped thinking then, and he quickly obeyed the command and turned onto his stomach. Connor kissed down his spine, and every place Connor’s lips touched felt scorched in the best way. He felt Connor’s warm hands on his cheeks, spreading them open, then Oliver gasped when he felt Connor’s tongue circle his hole.

He sealed his lips around it as he flicked his tongue against the furled entrance, and Oliver groaned and squirmed a little under him. Connor was a natural. It felt incredible, better than when anyone else had done this. Connor could make him feel more pleasure with his tongue than other guys had managed with their entire bodies before.

God, it had been too long. He was going to come embarrassingly quickly if Connor kept this up. Luckily Connor seemed to realise this, because he stopped what he was doing and pulled back as Oliver started to feel the tell-tale tightness in his abdomen. Connor kissed along his back again, up to the back of his neck and round to the side, over his jugular, then spoke against his rapid pulse. “Where’s your lube?”

Oliver could barely comprehend the words, but he managed to understand after a second of thinking about it and pointed to his bedside table. “Bottom drawer… There’s condoms in there too.”

He felt the need to add the second part, a subtle request for Connor to wear one without having to actually come out and say it. That would be a little awkward, especially considering Connor had sucked his dick without asking Oliver to wear one first.

Connor didn’t seem to mind though, as Oliver glanced over and saw him taking out to lube and a condom. He heard to cap open, then felt Connor’s fingers against his hole. The lube was cold, but it quickly heated up with Connor and Oliver’s body heat once Connor pressed a finger into him. The first one went in with little resistance thanks to Connor licking him open, and the second one only gave a slight stretch. The discomfort faded quickly, and soon enough Connor was pressing a third in. He stilled and waited for Oliver to get used to the feeling, then started to move them slowly, twisting and pumping them inside Oliver.

Oliver moaned each time another finger was pressed into him, then let out breathier moans as Connor prepared him. It wasn’t long before Connor deemed him ready, and Oliver paid close attention to the sounds and movements behind him to make sure Connor did as he had silently asked.

Connor slowly pulled his fingers out of Oliver, eliciting a little whine from him, then Oliver heard him shuffle into position behind him. Then he heard the condom wrapped crinkle and tear, the sound of the cap opening again and the sound of Connor spreading lube along his length. A quick glance back just to make sure confirmed that he was wearing the condom, and Oliver opened his legs a little wider to give Connor better access to him.

Connor pushed in slowly, and Oliver moaned at the feeling of being filled again. That warmth was back, and it was more intense this time, covering his entire body, strongest where Connor was touching him. Connor was bigger than he had expected, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. He stilled once he was over half way in, giving Oliver the opportunity to get used to it before he started moving. Connor started slow, and Oliver was grateful for that. Again, Connor seemed to just know when Oliver was ready for more, and he sped up a little, making his thrusts deeper and a little harder. He shifted his position, and Oliver gasped and moaned loudly as the change meant that Connor’s thrusts hit against his prostate almost every time. Connor gripped Oliver’s hips, a fraction on the rough side, and thrusted harder and faster now, Oliver’s moans seemingly spurring him on. He could hear Connor’s breathing and his quiet, throaty moans above him and the sounds made Oliver’s length twitch against the sheets.

He pushed himself up onto his knees, and Connor easily moved to accommodate the new position without his rhythm faltering. The new position gave Connor more opportunity to thrust into him with more momentum, and it meant that Oliver could rock back against him too in order to take more of him and meet each of Connor’s thrusts. He couldn’t stop letting out moans, and he bit his lip to try and quiet himself. Connor didn’t seem to like that idea, because one of his hands moved to Oliver’s shoulders to support himself so he could lean over him, his chest against Oliver’s back so his lips were near his ear.

“Don’t hold back… Wanna hear you…” He whispered in his ear, then Connor moaned quietly after a particularly brutal thrust, as if to accentuate his point.

Oliver had been right before. He was going to come way too soon, and he couldn’t bring himself to tell Connor to slow down or give him a bit of a break to make it last longer. He just wanted the pleasure. Judging by Connor’s fast breathing almost matching Oliver’s and the slightly messy thrusts, he was close too. He was losing his rhythm as he chased his own pleasure, and Oliver reached behind him to grip one of Connor’s ass cheeks to pull him closer. He dug his fingers into the soft flesh and Connor moaned a little louder. Connor’s hand moved from Oliver’s shoulder to trail down his body, first pinching and tweaking one of Oliver’s nipples, making him groan and squirm slightly, then went lower.

It only took a few strokes from Connor’s talented hand before Oliver was coming all over his covers and Connor’s hand. The heat from earlier exploded through his body, and for a moment it felt like he was on fire before it cooled slightly, but he could feel the phantom roasting sensation on his skin, as deep as his bones. But it wasn’t a painful kind of heat. It was comforting and left Oliver with a euphoric feeling stronger than he had ever gotten from an orgasm before.

Connor wasn’t far behind. He moved his hand away from Oliver’s length when it got too sensitive, and Oliver glanced over his shoulder in time to see Connor taking two of his come covered fingers into his mouth to suck on them. His eyes fell closed and he moaned around his own fingers as his other hand gripped Oliver’s waist tighter and he thrusted hard into Oliver a few more times, then hit his own peak.

Connor stilled inside him and let out a few shuddered breaths through his nose before he took his fingers out of his mouth and pulled out of Oliver. He took the condom off, tied it, and then tossed it into the bin in Oliver’s room before collapsing onto the sheets beside him.

They laid together in silence for a while side by side, trying to get their breathing back under control and their heart rates back to a healthy level. In the silence, Oliver couldn’t help but think about the warmth he felt when Connor handed him his drink, when his leg pressed against his in the cab, the heat of Connor’s body on and inside his own just moments ago. He felt too cold now, and instead of reaching for his blanket he decided to test something. Oliver shifted a little, just enough so that his shoulder was touching Connor’s and the warmth was back.

It wasn’t the kind of warmth he got from touching other people, or wearing clothes, or from his duvet. The heat wasn’t just on his shoulder where he was touching Connor, it spread through his entire body. It felt special, and Oliver almost stopped breathing all together when he realised why.

The last time he had felt any warmth and comfort like this had been with Jack.

His soulmate.

He thought back to what his friend had said a few months ago when Oliver had argued that he wouldn’t meet his soulmate in a bar. She had asked Oliver if he had any cold spells since the nine months after Jack died and when he told her he hadn’t, Ashley had worked out that Jack’s reincarnation would be ten years younger than Oliver. She used that as an argument to say that he would be at the age where he would spend a lot of nights in bars, but right now Oliver was using it to try and figure out if the man lying beside him seemed to be the right age.

Oliver glanced over at Connor and saw that his eyes were closed, then searched his face for any signs to indicate how old he was. He must be at least twenty one, or he wouldn’t have been served at the bar. That particular bar was pretty strict with checking for ID. He had stubble, well groomed. That usually indicated that he was old enough to be able to decide on what style he wanted and how to make it look as flawless as Connor’s. He had no wrinkles or visible laugh lines while his face was lax like this, but Oliver remembered seeing lines around his eyes when he grinned.

It was a really good thing Connor had his eyes closed this entire time, or Oliver would have come across pretty creepy with how much he was staring at him.

He had to be in his mid-twenties, probably no more than twenty five.

When taking the nine months for him to be reborn into consideration, Jack’s reincarnation would be twenty four.

There was one problem with Oliver’s prediction that Connor was his soulmate. Why hadn’t Connor seemed to have noticed the warmth? It went both ways, so Connor should feel it too. And he was young enough that he wouldn’t have met his soulmate yet, so the feeling should be more intense and recognisable than it was for Oliver.

He should say something. Oliver had lost his soulmate once already. He couldn’t stand the idea of losing him again, especially if it was just because Oliver was too scared to say anything and Connor just walked out of his life.

Oliver was trying to decide how to start the conversation when Connor heaved a sigh and pushed himself to sit up. Before Oliver could register what he was doing, Connor had already left the bedroom to collect up his clothes from where they were dumped in the living room and started getting dressed.

He had to say something now, or Connor was going to leave before he could.

But Oliver froze. He couldn’t think of any words he could say to start telling Connor that they were soulmates. He couldn’t think of any words _at all._

The goodbye was a blur. Connor thanked him again for the email, told him he had fun, said goodbye and left. Maybe Oliver said he had fun too, maybe he said goodbye before the door clicked shut behind Connor, but he honestly couldn’t be sure.

He didn’t have a contact number for Connor, he didn’t even have his last name so he could find him on Facebook or something. Oliver didn’t even know if he would have added him on Facebook even if he did find him. Connor clearly thought of this as just a one night stand, and it would be weird if Oliver tried to contact him again.

All he knew was that Connor worked with Annalise Keating and they were defending the secretary who tried to kill her boss with an aspirin.

Connor was gone.


End file.
